Contact Broker
New York, New York
About the Company
Wisable is a sell-side M&A advisory and business brokerage firm for owners of small and lower middle market companies. We were spun out of the D. E. Shaw group's venture studio in New York, which means Main Street businesses get the research discipline, financial rigor, and buyer reach normally reserved for far larger transactions.
WHO WE WORK WITH
Businesses generating at least $1M in revenue and $100K in net profit, typically up to $20M in revenue. Collision and auto repair, HVAC, home services and skilled trades, healthcare, insurance, staffing, and light manufacturing. Most of our clients are selling for the first time, after decades of building something they care about.
HOW WE ARE BUILT
Industry advisors on every deal. Former CEOs and operators who have bought and sold companies in your sector work the engagement alongside us. They know what drives value in your industry and how acquirers actually think.
A national buyer network. Our research team builds a buyer universe from scratch for every engagement: strategics, private equity platforms and their portfolio companies, independent sponsors, family offices, and qualified individual buyers. You review the list. Anyone you do not want approached, we strike. We do not post a listing and wait.
Real fee alignment. No retainers, no monthly fees, no hourly billing. Apart from a one-time valuation fee at the start, we are paid a success fee only when your deal closes.
Limited capacity. We take on a small number of engagements at a time so every client gets senior attention from valuation through closing.
We work for sellers. Our job is to get you the best terms available in today's market, then get the deal across the line.
Headquartered in New York. Buyers sourced nationally.
Broker Biography
Introduction
I have been on the other side of this table.
I started and built three small businesses, and I sold one of them. I know what it feels like to sit across from a buyer who has done a hundred deals when you have done zero, to read a term sheet you do not fully understand, and to wonder whether the person advising you is working for you or for the transaction.
That is why I started Wisable.
Before I ran my own companies I worked at McKinsey & Company and Morgan Stanley, and I hold an MBA from Harvard Business School. That background matters for one reason: I read deal structure the way a buyer's advisor reads it, and I can tell you what a term actually costs you in dollars instead of what it sounds like on paper.
The credential that matters more is the operator one. I have made payroll. I have had a bad quarter and told the team it was fine when I was not certain it was. And I have sold a business I built, including the parts of that process nobody warns you about.
WHY WISABLE EXISTS
Most owners sell once in their life. The buyer across the table does this professionally, several times a year, with advisors on retainer. That asymmetry is the single biggest reason good businesses trade for less than they are worth. Closing it is the entire job.
Wisable was spun out of the venture studio at the D. E. Shaw group, the New York investment and technology firm founded in 1988. The name is not the point. The point is that the research discipline, financial rigor, and institutional relationships that go into billion dollar transactions can be applied to a $3M body shop or an HVAC company, and almost nobody does that. Main Street businesses deserve the same firepower as any Fortune 500 deal.
WHAT AN ENGAGEMENT LOOKS LIKE
Every deal gets a team, not one generalist. An industry advisor who has run and acquired companies in your sector. A transaction advisor who is your point of contact across the whole arc of the sale. A deal manager with investment banking experience who handles the financial work.
We start with an independent valuation and an honest read on what the market will pay. Then we build the buyer list from scratch, prepare materials that survive diligence, run the outreach ourselves so you can keep running your company, screen every buyer before you meet them, and stay in the deal through closing.
We take a limited number of clients at a time. That constraint is what makes the rest of it possible.
HOW WE GET PAID
No retainers. No monthly fees. No hourly billing.
There is one upfront valuation fee, which pays for an independent, industry-specific valuation you keep regardless of what happens next. After that we earn a success fee at closing, on a sliding scale that drops as the deal gets larger. If your business does not sell, we do not get paid.
That structure is deliberate. It means my incentive is your closing number, not your calendar.
HOW I WORK
I will tell you what your business is actually worth, including when the answer is lower than you hoped. An advisor who agrees with your number to win the listing is not doing you a favor.
I will tell you when it is not the right time to sell. Some businesses need twelve months of cleanup before they go to market. That conversation costs me an engagement today and produces a materially better outcome for you later.
I will ask what needs to come out at the start. Litigation, partner disputes, customer concentration. Mid-process surprises are what kill deals.
I stay in through the hard part. The stretch from LOI to close is where diligence surfaces problems and buyers look for reasons to retrade. That is where most of my time goes.
WHO WE ARE A FIT FOR
Owners doing at least $1M in revenue and $100K in net profit, with a story we can take to buyers cleanly and price expectations grounded in the market. We make exceptions for strong businesses, and we will give you a direct answer either way.
If you are thinking about selling in the next few years, or you just want an honest read on where you stand, I am glad to have that conversation with nothing attached to it.
Services Provided
Valuation. An independent, defensible valuation prepared by an advisor who knows your industry, grounded in your financials, comparable transactions, and current market conditions. It becomes the foundation for pricing and buyer outreach, and you keep it regardless of what you decide to do next.
Financial recasting. Adjusted EBITDA and SDE with every add-back documented so it holds up in diligence.
Exit readiness. A straight assessment of what your business will command today, what would move that number, and whether waiting is worth it.
Marketing materials. CIM, teaser, and financial package built in house. Every number ties back to a source document.
Buyer universe development. Custom research for every deal: strategics, private equity platforms and portfolio add-ons, independent sponsors, family offices, and qualified individual buyers. You review the list, and anyone you do not want approached, we strike.
Confidential outreach and screening. We drive outreach end to end so you stay focused on running the business. NDA administration, financial qualification, and management meeting prep. Every buyer is vetted before you meet them.
Negotiation. IOI and LOI review and structure analysis across cash at close, seller notes, earnouts, and rollover equity. We push to maximize cash at closing.
Diligence and closing. We run the data room and coordinate with your attorney and CPA through to funding. Most deals get harder after the LOI. That is where we spend the most time.
Transition planning. Post-close employment, consulting, and earnout terms built around what you actually want your next chapter to look like.
FEES
No retainers, no monthly fees, no hourly billing. One upfront valuation fee. Everything else is a success fee earned only at closing, on a sliding scale that drops as the deal gets larger.
